UVA Baseball Alumni In The Pros: Update #2

With the month of May coming to a close, it's time for another check on the UVA baseball alumni current playing pro ball. This list is going to get longer pretty soon as the MLB draft begins on June 5th. Check back here for full coverage of the draft.

Javier Lopez, LHP, San Francisco Giants - Lopez continues to do what he does. He's throw 10 IP in 20 outings. He's got a 1.80 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. He's given up 8 hits and 2 runs. He has just 4 Ks in his 10 innings though. Lefties are just 4/23 against him with 1 walk.

Ryan Zimmerman, 3B, Washington Nationals - Zimm is still on the DL, and has been since April 13^th. He's due back soon. However, he may not be playing 3B when he gets back. He's been working at 1B and LF and is likely to see time at all 3 of those spots when he returns. Once Bryce Harper returns to the Nats, Zimm will likely spend most of his time at 1B.

Mark Reynolds, 1B, Milwaukee Brewers - Reynolds continues to play just about every day as the Brewers regular first baseman. He's still putting on the Mark Reynolds show. He has 12 HRs on the season with 25 RBI. He also has 57 Ks in 157 ABs. He's batting just .217 with a .292 OBP. But, he has a .465 SLG and a .757 OPS. He's 9^th in both HRs and Ks in all of baseball.

Sean Doolittle, LHP, Oakland Athletics - After a slow start, Doolittle has returned to being one of the top relief pitchers in baseball. He has a 3.00 ERA and a 0.79 WHIP. He has 33 Ks in 24 IP and just one walk. He hasn't given up a single run in the month of May. And I probably just jinxed him.
Twitter: @whatwouldDOOdo

Brandon Guyer, OF, Tampa Bay Rays - Guyer has been with the Rays all season long, despite not hitting much. He's got just a 646 OPS with 1 HR and 6 RBI in just 61 ABs. He has a 15/2 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He's still valuable to the Rays because he's a good fielder and a good baserunner. This is his role, he's a bench player who gets a couple of starts a month.
Twitter: @BrandonGuyer

That's it for the guys currently in the majors. Now we'll take a look at the guys in the minors. Some of these guys are likely to spend some time in the majors this season, others are still working their way up. A few are just toiling in the minors with little hope of ever playing in the majors. We'll look at these guys in alphabetical order.

David Adams, 2B, Baltimore Orioles - Adams was struggling so much at AAA that he was demoted to AA. He's still not hitting. He's hit before at both levels, so it makes you wonder if he's dealing with some sort of injury. The only other explanation is that it is in his head. In 17 games at AA, he's batting just .222 with a .279 OBP and .365 SLG. In his last extended time at AA, he batted .306 with a .385 OBP and .450 SLG. Clearly, there's something wrong.

Stephen Bruno, 2B, Chicago Cubs - Bruno continues to rake in AA. He's batting .288 with a .381 OBP and .484 SLG. He has 3 HRs, 21 RBI and 4 SBs. During May, he's batting .346 with a .414 OBP and .641 SLG. Those numbers are outstanding. He is 8^th in the Southern League in OPS. He is striking out a bit more than you'd like, almost 25% of his ABs. But as long as he puts up OBP over 400, nobody is going to complain.
Twitter: @UvaBruno11

Andrew Carraway, LHP, Seattle Mariners - Carraway did not have a great May in Tacoma. On the season, he has a 4.53 ERA with a 1.49 WHIP. He has a 33:14 K/BB ratio, which actually isn't bad. But in May he's 0-3 with a 5.24 ERA and he's walked 3.6 guys per 9 innings. Much of that damage was one start, where he gave up 5 runs on 4 hits without retiring a batter.

Kyle Crockett, LHP, Cleveland Indians - Crockett got the call to the majors earlier this month, and had 3 appearances with the big club. He gave up a HR in his first appearance, but settled down after that and finished his 4.1 IP with a 2.08 ERA and 1.15 WHIP. He had 1 K and 3 BBs, but gave up just 2 hits. He was destroying AA before his call-up. Now he's in AAA and has yet to give up an earned run (2 unearned runs though) in 2 outings there. He has 4 Ks and 0 BBs. He's given up 4 hits. He'll likely be spending more time in the big leagues this year.
Twitter: @CrockPott3

Jeremy Farrell, 3B, Chicago White Sox - Farrell has picked up his performance after an extremely slow start, but still sports just a .212 BA with a .276 OBP and .327 SLG. It's still just 52 ABs, but he's never really hit much at this level.
Twitter: @Jeremy_Farrell

Phil Gosselin, 2B, Atlanta Braves - Not much has changed with Phil since the last update. He's batting .333 (same as it was in April), with a .354 OBP (slightly lower) and .430 SLG (slightly higher). He still hasn't hit a HR, but he has 14 doubles and 2 triples in 45 games. He also has 3 stolen bases without being caught. The Braves haven't hit much all month, so it's a bit of a surprise that Phil hasn't gotten a shot.

Reed Gragnani, 2B, Boston Red Sox - Gragnani continued to impress in High-A ball. His numbers are down a bit since his hot start, but he's still batting .327 with a .413 OBP and .428 SLG. He also still has more BBs than Ks. He hasn't HR'd but he has 8 doubles and 4 triples to go with 28 RBI.
Twitter: @ReedGrags

John Hicks, C, Seattle Mariners - Hicks has finally started to hit. After a poor April, John has batted .322 with a .397 OBP and a .525 SLG. He's HR'd twice and has 11 RBI and 13 runs. This is all in just 16 games. The Mariners were high on Hicks, and he's starting to show why.
Twitter: @JohnHicks08

Danny Hultzen, LHP, Seattle Mariners - Hultzen is out for the season after having Tommy John surgery.

Branden Kline, RHP, Baltimore Orioles - Kline continues to pitch well in High-A Frederick. He's 3-1 with a 3.41 ERA in 11 starts. He's averaging nearly 6 IP per start, and he has a 41:13 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The Ks are lower than you'd like, but as long as he keeps the walks down, he can be successful. His 1.28 WHIP is decent. He's had a few bad starts, but mostly he's been consistently pretty solid. Considering his injury-marred 2013, he's probably on an innings limit, so he'll probably continue to pitch in High-A until he reaches his limit.
Twitter: @BrandenKline16

Jeff Lorick, LHP, Chicago Cubs - Lorick continues to have control problems. A 22:17 strikeout-to-walk ratio isn't gonna get it done. Obviously, the 6.75 ERA and 1.79 WHIP isn't either. He's 0-2 in 16 appearances, all out of the pen.

Greg Miclat, SS, St. Louis Cardinals - Miclat is struggling bigtime this year. He's now played 38 games at AA Springfield (Missouri), and has a .190 BA. He has a .304 OBP due to a his 18 walks, but just a .207 SLG. He's stolen 9 bases, which is nice. But he has to start hittingl.

Robert Morey, LHP, Marlins - Morey hasn't pitched since April 21^st. He went on the DL on April 25^th, and was just activated on the 27^th. I haven't been able to determine what the injury was.
Twitter: @theRMorey

Jarrett Parker, OF, San Francisco Giants - Parker is basically duplicating his performance from last season at AA-Richmond. He's struggled in May, but still has a .244 BA with a .339 OBP and .405 SLG. He has 4 HRs and 28 RBI in 45 games (3 of those HRs have come in May). He also has 4 triples. He strikes out far too much, but actually less than he did last year, so that's good. He's also walking more. The Giants are pretty high on Parker, who is a lefty and a very good defensive OF, so they'll be patient with him.

Steven Proscia, 3B, Los Angeles Dodgers - Proscia has hit better in May than he did in April, but still has just a .228 BA with a .304 OBP and .351 SLG.  He has hit 5 HRs and has 22 RBI in 44 games. He's also striking out too much, but he draws a decent number of walks. He also has 6 SB without being caught. Proscia has hit at this level before, so his struggles are surprising. He has a lot of potential, so he has a long leash. Starting to hit would be helpful though.
Twitter: @Prosh19

Will Roberts, RHP, Cleveland Indians - Not much has changed with Roberts since April. Or since last season. He is 4-6 with a 4.29 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP in 10 starts. He has 40 Ks in 56.2 innings and 17 walks. None of this is great, but none of it is terrible either. Roberts' future may be in the bullpen.  
Twitter: @WRoberts25

Scott Silverstein, LHP, Toronto Blue Jays - It seems like Silverstein is starting to get his arm strength back. After a poor start to the season, Scott has been dominant over his last 11 appearances. In May, he's given up just 3 ER in 16.1 IP. On the season, he is 5-1 with a 3.33 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP, with a 60:23 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 27 IP. Keep in mind that his ERA in April was 5.91. He also has 4 saves, and 4 blown saves.
Twitter: @silvertweet29

Kenny Swab, C, Kansas City Royals - After initially struggling in his conversion to pitcher, Swab has been lights out in May. He's had just 2 appearances, but hasn't given up a run in 5.2 IP. He's gotten his ERA down to 4.15 and his WHIP to 1.21. In May, he struck out 2 and walked 3. He hasn't pitched since May 11, and I'm not sure what the story is there.    
Twitter: @kennswab

Chris Taylor, SS, Seattle Mariners - Taylor is absolutely raking in his first shot at AAA. In 35 games and 145 ABs, he is batting .372 with a .414 OBP and a .593 SLG. In case you couldn't tell, those numbers are outstanding, even for the notoriously hitter friendly Pacific Coast League. Taylor leads the league in BA, and is sixth in OBP and fourth in SLG. Taylor is still just 23, much younger than most of the other guys on the top of those leaderboards. Taylor has a bright future.

Tyler Wilson, RHP, Baltimore Orioles - After a great April, Wilson has come back to earth. He's currently 5-4 with a 4.45 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. His numbers in May are terrible, with a 6.38 ERA and a 1.85 WHIP. And he's 1-4 in May. The Ks are down and the walks are up. I'm not sure what the issue is, he just seems to be getting hit.

Cody Winiarski, RHP, Chicago White Sox - Winiarski has been solid in AA this year. He's thrown 23.1 innings over 17 appearances and has a 3.86 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. He's 0-1, but has 4 saves and just 1 blown save. The blown save and the loss came in the same game and he gave up just 1 ER in that appearance. His ERA in May is just 2.57 after a 5.79 in April.

Twitter: @cody_winiarski